I'm no sore loser, but election results are sad

Published: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 01:57 PM.

I offer huge and sincere congratulations to President Obama and his re-election team. How on earth can anybody sell a car that doesn’t run to 75 million people? They did it, and I tip my hat to them.

If it’s true that the best revenge is living well, I intend to take a full measure of retribution. I love my profession and my clients. My wife Ann and I will enjoy our little vacations when time and money allow. I’ll play poker in Vegas when June rolls around.

Life is very good.

Otis Gardner’s column appears here weekly. He can be reached at ogardner@embarqmail.com.

To say I’m disappointed by last week’s election results is an understatement of Biblical proportions. I’m still stunned but am beginning the transition into acceptance marinated in remorse. It doesn’t taste good at all.

I’m not a sore loser. The majority made their choice.

But I am a sad loser. Try as I may I can’t imagine why the majority of the country wants continuance of Obama’s spiral downward. What do voters find the least bit appealing about a $21 trillion-plus national debt by 2016?

Maybe I’m just not smart or analytical enough to understand the big picture. That’s not an original thought.

After writing anti-Obama columns, I often received notes regarding my sanity, or lack thereof. Occasionally some even voice skepticism about the marital status of my parents.

Last Tuesday, our national tickets were punched for the sequel, "Obotomy-2." It’ll have essentially the same cast and probably the same scripted storyline.

I don’t look forward to sitting through another four-year production about dismantling free-market capitalism. On the bright side, everybody will get "free" popcorn.

There’s nothing to do about it, but I’m hopeful on one level: I have to believe in the existence of immutable economic forces rooted in mathematics that ultimately prevail. We may temporarily short-circuit logic and dance around consequences, but eventually options disappear.

You’ve heard about the "Greece" financial thing. Certainly we’re not Greece, but common symptoms are inescapable. From the standard European socialism template, we’re embracing and promoting the unsustainable, sacrificing sound fiscal tenants for instant gratifications.

It sounds good and certainly feels good to many voters, but when the music stops, non-optional emergency steps pick up the rhythm. Governments roll out "severe austerity measures."

The term sounds non-threatening, but those hooked on free-stuff suffer cold-turkey withdrawals. In my view our government has turned into a pusher and promoter of dependency that will surely continue, even accelerate.

In retrospect, I find amusement in the thought that neither liberals nor conservatives are without a huge stake in the country’s fiscal health. The same well serves all of us.

The American golden goose has laid wonderfully valuable treasures for over two centuries, but if enough people pile into the nest, it’ll croak and there goes the eggs along with the freedom tree it lived in.

I’m surely wrong about some things but can’t figure out where I went astray. It doesn’t matter now. This election is history, and I love our system so am not going to dwell on its mysteries.

I offer huge and sincere congratulations to President Obama and his re-election team. How on earth can anybody sell a car that doesn’t run to 75 million people? They did it, and I tip my hat to them.

If it’s true that the best revenge is living well, I intend to take a full measure of retribution. I love my profession and my clients. My wife Ann and I will enjoy our little vacations when time and money allow. I’ll play poker in Vegas when June rolls around.

Life is very good.

Otis Gardner’s column appears here weekly. He can be reached at ogardner@embarqmail.com.